BARBARA KERSTETTER

'And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.'
“Little Gidding,” T.S. Eliot

Click on any thumbnail to see an enlarged version of the image.

All the above paintings are from the House Concert Series.

This is life we are talking about and, as visual artists, we talk with our pencils and brushes.

Although the study of piano was my first discipline, drawings in the margins of music scores superseded practice time.

During a recent privileged meeting with C.C.Wang, in which the esteemed artist asked what I painted, my answer was automatic, surprising me a bit. “I aspire to visualize music.” Mr. Wang closed his eyes, smiled, and answered, “And that is as it should be.”

Now that I have returned to piano study, with Ronn Yedidia, and become a regular participant in the circuit of New York House Concerts, I’ve rediscovered my love of Schubert and Chopin, which deeply influence my work.

Music and the visual arts are complimentary and for this artist, inextricably intertwined. Since I am visually oriented and governed by light, it follows that color shapes every experience.

In order better to express and share these experiences, I did graduate work at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, continued practice of life drawing, studied mythology at Georgetown University, and then spent a year dissecting at Georgetown University’s School of Medicine. Here In New York, I taught medical personnel for several decades at Columbia and New York Universities, while also painting and exhibiting my work annually at a major gallery as well as several museums.

At last I have returned to music and my own visual interpretations thereof. Effects of gesture and abstract line, combined with the infinite expressive potential of light have led me back to the place where I began, now knowing it better.